Dinar
of the Fatimid dynasty

Egypt, AD 970

The coin shown here was minted by the Fatimid
dynasty (969-1171). They ruled Syria and Egypt, and North Africa as
far west as Tunisia, from the city of al-Qahira
(Cairo).

Coinage was used
by rulers as a means for self-promotion and early Islamic coins had
a standard design. Quotations from the Koran were inscribed in
Arabic using the Kufic script. The mint, the caliph's name
and the date in the Islamic Calendar were also given. African
states adopted this layout, adding subtle indications to
characterise their
coins.

The coin shown here
indicates a break from this standard design by the Fatimid dynasty.
As Shi'ites, they were theologically and politically
opposed to the Sunni rule of the Abbasids in Baghdad. Some of their
coins mirror this conflict in their revolutionary design of
concentric circles with inscriptions referring to their
Shi'a beliefs, and in replacing the central traditional
inscriptions with ones of their own.

J. Williams (ed.), Money: a history (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)